Prostitute or Parasite: The Entanglement of Scientific and Social Victorian Discourses

Author(s):  
Michelle Hunniford

Where does scientific inspiration come from? How does society determine its identity? Biology acts as a source for social metaphor, just as society can be the catalyst to drive scientific discovery. Though the word “parasite” has its origins in Greek drama, it became popularly associated with biology with the advent of the microscope. The story of the “parasite” is complicated by the frequent adoption of biological language to describe society and reinforce constructed social hierarchy. Prostitutes, as a group, are socially “parasitized” in the 19th century largely because of the threat of rapidly spreading venereal disease. The Contagious Diseases Acts, passed from 1864-1869, were a drastic medical solution to a problem that could have been more easily solved through milder social reforms. The primary motivation seems to be a fear of contagion, class mixing, and the weakening of the empire. Both the unseen biological parasite and the prostitute or “social parasite” act as threatening forces in the Victorian mind. The language of primary social and scientific literature from the 19th century shows each discourse being influenced by the other in an inextricably entangled way.

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 13
Author(s):  
Leury Max Da Silva Chaves ◽  
Gabriel Vinicius Santos ◽  
Cauê La Scala Teixeira ◽  
Marzo Edir Da Silva-Grigoletto

 Bodyweight exercises (also popularly known as calisthenics) is a classic training method and its practice has been widespread since the 19th century, but little evidenced in the scientific literature over the years. This type of training aims to promote multi-system adaptations using body weight as an overload with no or few implements [1–3]. This characteristic makes exercise with body weight easy to apply, in addition to having an excellent cost-benefit ratio when compared to other training possibilities that require machines or materials [4,5].


2019 ◽  
pp. 57-70
Author(s):  
Aneta Bołdyrew

Reformative Concepts of Education and Protective Activities Toward Neglected Children in the Kingdom of Poland at the Turn of the XIX-th Century in Comparison with European SolutionsAfter the January Uprising in the Kingdom of Poland, across half of the following century, industrial development was mostly connected with social reforms. One tragic consequence of it was the increase in the number of children without parental protection, juvenile beggars, tramps, young criminals and prostitutes. During the last thirty years of the 19th century it became a priority in the Kingdom of Poland to pay attention to the education and protection of children and teenagers from the poorest families. Numerous innovative and educational concepts were formulated at that time; some of them were used in centres for socially maladjusted young people, for instance in Studzieniec, Mariańska Wilderness or Struga, in centres for young prostitutes. The activity of educational centres and societies which organised the protection of children  (for example, The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children) was given as an example.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 206-217
Author(s):  
Alexey V. Fedorov

In the review, V. A. Kotelnikov’s new book “Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy in Life and Literature” is regarded as a scientific discovery. The author lists various aspects of the great work that became the discovery of the personality of Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy (the circumstances of his life, relations with contemporaries, opinions on pressing issues, philosophical reflections, etc.), the discovery of A. K. Tolstoy’s works, keeping many mysteries, the discovery of some of his remarkable contemporaries, the discovery of the time of the earthly existence of the writer and poet who lived and worked in a difficult transitional historical era. The review notes that the book by V. A. Kotelnikov is remarkable for the discovery of the historical and cultural era of the middle of the 19th century in her biggest achievements, characteristic tendencies. The author emphasizes the breadth and encyclopedic knowledge of the author of the new research, which is a necessary condition for creating a book about a personality of the scale of A. K. Tolstoy. The style of the new edition is assessed, the main substantive aspects considered by the author are given, the importance of labor in modern literary criticism is shown. The book by V. A. Kotelnikov through dialogue, analogies and comparisons with the creative personality of the writer of the golden age of the classics also becomes a discovery of himself for the modern reader.


2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 42-55
Author(s):  
Khushvaqt Norkuchkarov ◽  

The article describes the number and regional location of Uzbeks in Afghanistan from the second half of the 19th century to the present, immigration in Central Asia and the influence of socio-political processes in the country are revealed using various sources: Internet data, scientific literature, archives, official online newspapers, periodicals and magazines that present data, reports of various statistical organizations, a comparative analysis of the opinions of official representatives, cause differences between them andtheir reasons


2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Porro ◽  
Bruno Falconi ◽  
Carlo Cristini ◽  
Lorenzo Lorusso ◽  
Antonia F. Franchini

Medicine in the second half of the nineteenth century takes on some characteristics of <em>modernity</em>. These characteristics are worthy of our attention because they help us to understand better some of the current problems of hygiene and public health. One of the topics that was most discussed in the scientific-academic milieu of the second half of the nineteenth century was cremation. There was a poetic precedent: the cremation of Percy Bysse Shelley (1792-1822). The earliest apparatus to completely destroy the corpse was made in Italy and Germany in the 1870s. As far as hygiene was concerned, the reasons for cremation were not to pollute the water-bearing strata and an attempt to streamline the cemetery structure. As in an apparent schizophrenia, scientists of the day worked to both destroy and preserve corpses. There is also the unusual paradox that when the first cremations took place, the corpses were first preserved then to be destroyed later. The catholic world (mainly in Italy) and forensic scientists opposed cremation. It was left to the hygienists to spread the practice of cremation. An analysis of scientific literature shows us that if we leave out the related forensic and ethical problems, recent years have seen attention paid to any harmful emissions from crematoria equipment which have poured into the environment. Another issue is the assessment of inadvertent damage which may be caused by the condition of the corpse. Some topics, however, such as the need for preventive autopsies (first proposed in 1884 in Milan) are still a subject of debate, and seem to pass virtually unchanged from one generation to the next.


Author(s):  
Heda Festini

There was a number of even world known philosophers who worked in Zadar in the 19th century. These were: Bottura, Putić, Politeo, Nad i A. Petrić. On the occasion of the anniversary of tne Liberal Arts faculty in Zadar which actually is a succesor od the Zadar high school and lycée from the 19th century the people here remembered at least Iwo eminent philosophers from those times who were in some way the founders of these organizations. These philosophers were P. Bottura and J. Pulić, the teachers in the mentioned schools in Zadar. Our aim is to point out the similarities in the lives of P. Bottura who taught in Zadar and was the headmaster of the high school and lycée and J. Pulić who studied in Zadar and latter replaced Bottura as the headmaster ol the high school. It is shown that both of them were highly estimated by one of the gi-eatest Intellectuals in Dalmatia. N. Tamaseo. They ware given equal honors posthumously. But their interest in language was different. Bottura was interested in language, as he said himself, in order to apply philosophy to grammar which actually was an attempt to found logical Linguist ios. Pulić was primarily interested in language from the si and point ol' the analytical procedures in research as it is done today in the philosophy of science. The author stresses Bottura’s activites in relation lo Ihc contemporary philosophy of language and linguistics while Pullć’s contribution is stressed in relation Io Peirce’s invention of retroduction as a method in scientific discovery procedures


2000 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 184-189
Author(s):  
K. E. Bugge

A Grundtvig-Conference in IndiaBy K.E. BuggeIn January 1999 an international Grundtvig-conference was held in India. The venue was Jadavpur University, Calcutta. Since time immemorial Calcutta has been a seat of learning.Not only the classical religious texts were studied, but for more than 200 years the intellectuals of Calcutta have also been deeply involved in social and political issues. In the middle of the 19th century this blend of culture, scholarship and social reforms inspired a series of initiatives aiming at providing improved educational opportunities for the backward sections of society. The educational efforts of Jadavpur University (established 1956) must be understood in this perspective.


Author(s):  
Bogdan Popa

In this chapter I discuss performative slurs as a tactic deployed by feminist activists in England in the 19th century. During debates about the Contagious Diseases Acts in England, feminists’ radical and humiliating rhetoric resignified exclusionary political conventions such as prostitution laws and prohibitions against voting. While Josephine Butler chastised upper-class men who were part of the political elite for being hypocrites and sadistic villains, Mill used shaming and humiliation strategically in his articles and public interventions. Humiliating language can be a radical democratic act when it represents a risky intervention that imagines new possibilities of living for sex and gender marginals.


Author(s):  
A. M. Morozov ◽  
A. N. Sergeev ◽  
S. V. Zhukov ◽  
A. M. Varpetyan ◽  
T. S. Ryzhova ◽  
...  

Relevance. For many centuries, infectious complications have been one of the most pressing problems of surgical practice. In modern medicine, a wide range of aseptic and antiseptic methods is presented, which, without harm to the body, can destroy pathogenic microorganisms and prevent the development of purulent complications that significantly aggravate the patient's condition and increase the duration of treatment. However, this was not always the case. In the era of the formation of surgery, interventions in a significant majority of cases ended with the development of purulent and septic complications, which inevitably led to death.The purpose of this study was to study the main points that play a key role in the history of the formation of modern asepsis and antiseptics.Material and methods. In the course of the study, an analysis of domestic and foreign literature on the history of the development of aseptics and antiseptics was carried out. When compiling the work, the biographical method of historical research was used. Articles and historical sketches of the period of the described events were also used as materials.Results. The formation of the principles of asepsis and antisepsis is a long historical process in which many of the greatest minds of mankind have been involved. At the same time, like the development of any scientific worldview, the development of asepsis and antiseptics was based on previous knowledge, as well as on knowledge obtained, mainly empirically. From time immemorial, physicians have already had an idea of the antibacterial properties of a number of compounds. The first mentions of attempts to prevent contamination of wounds and their disinfection date back to the time of Hippocrates. In the Middle Ages, for the purpose of disinfecting wounds, cauterization with a red-hot iron and boiling oil was widely used. From the middle of the 18th century, the first antiseptics entered the practice of surgeons. From the middle of the 19th century, a significant contribution to the development of asepsis and antiseptics was made by the Russian surgeon N.I. Pirogov, and his follower N.V. Sklifosovsky. A breakthrough in the development of asepsis and antiseptics in the late 19th – early 20th centuries was the scientific discovery of the French scientist Louis Pasteur, who proved that the processes of fermentation and decay are caused by microorganisms. This discovery formed the basis of J. Lister's antiseptic method. At the end of the 19th century, E. von Bergmann developed the aseptic method. One of the last significant events in the history of antiseptics was A. Fleming antibiotics.Conclusions. Thanks to the work of great scientists and doctors, there are many lifethreatening postoperative complications that claimed the lives of many people, if they did not remain in the past, then their incidence and intensity of manifestations have noticeably decreased, and asepsis and antiseptics have become an integral component of surgical practice.


2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 114-120
Author(s):  
Monika Vlasáková

The library preserved in the collections of the Hussite Museum in Tábor is a reflection of the life of the Prague burgher and pharmacist Jan Dobromil Arbeiter (1794–1870). In the context of three quarters of the 19th century, it testifies to the emergence of the National Revival, the renewed interest in the Czech language and the related development of Czech theatre. J. D. Arbeiter was an important Prague burgher and patriot actively involved in social and political events. His versatile interests and the support of patriotism led him to the foundation and expansion of his personal library. He was a member of many associations, including Stálci, established by Amerling. Its members regularly purchased Czech books and thus supported the development of Czech, in particular scientific, literature. Arbeiter was also a generous patron. Among other things, he supported the education of poor students. He played an important role in the establishment of the Realgymnasium grammar school in Tábor, to which he donated his library. He had developed it for his entire life; originally, it comprised an impressive number of 3,000 volumes. The library of J. D. Arbeiter is not only an example of one of a few extant burgher libraries of the 19th century. Thanks to the breadth of Arbeiter’s interests, it also provides a selective overview of Czech book production at the time.


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